Sasami's Heartache
by JamieFujikata
Summary: Sasami surrenders her childhood for the sake of love. Will she and Tenchi work out?
1. Happy Birthday Sasami

The characters in this story do not belong to me. I do not, and will not use creations of AIC/ Pioneer for reasons of profit.  
  
Sasami found herself sitting in front of the Masaki shrine overlooking the surrounding forest. The sun was just beginning to dip behind the beckoning horizon, cascading its wonderful shades of orange and pink across the tops of the grisly trees, and placid lake. It was her 11th birthday that evening. Tenchi had said that he wanted to give her something. She had yet to see a party, so she assumed it was just a rouge' to get her out of the house to set up for the festivities. She didn't mind though, this would be the first party she would have seen since she was on Jurai. "I wonder what he got me." Sasami thought as a thousand ideas began zooming through her head.   
  
She saw Tenchi climbing the stairs towards her. In his arms were about 4 fair sized gifts. With a small struggle, he made it to the top of the staircase, and set the presents down next to the little princess. "Pick any one you want except for the one on the bottom." Tenchi said, seeing Sasami's eyes jump to a long, rectangular box at the bottom of the stack of gifts.   
  
She picked off the top gift from the pile. It was wrapped in a golden bow, and purple wrapping paper. On the tag strapped to the side of the box, Tenchi's name was neatly written. She carefully unwrapped the gift, only tearing at the places where the paper was taped. She untied the ribbon and the paper all fell neatly off the box. She folded the wrapping paper delicately and set it next to her. She opened the box and found a deluxe stainless steel cutlery set complete with 7 knives and a sharpening steak. Her arms flew around Tenchi as she thanked him for the gift. "I needed a new set of knives! The ones I have now are getting dull." She said, examining the assortment of carving knives.   
  
Sasami then picked up a heavy, red, box. She once again neatly tore the paper and laid it neatly next to her. She opened the box and discovered six or seven cookbooks, all for different kinds of international dishes, Italian, Chinese American and Thai. She flipped through the pages with her eyes aglow at the vast archives of recipes. "Thank you Tenchi!" she said, not lifting her excited gaze from the book.   
  
"There are two more you know." Tenchi chuckled as he saw Sasami start to descend the stairway back to the house, face buried in the book titled," 101 Desserts from America to Zaire". She turned to look at him and laughed.   
  
"There's nothing more I really want, but thank you anyway Tenchi." Sasami said light heartedly and turned her attention back to the book in her hands.   
  
"Well, at least open this one." Tenchi said handing Sasami the gift he pulled away earlier. Sasami put her books down on the steps as she took Tenchi's gift. It was by far the most beautifully wrapped gift of the four. It was a rectangular box, like the kind of box you put clothes in. it was wrapped in blue, shiny paper, with a glittered, orange ribbon, topped with a white, lace bow. In her excitement, she forgot about preserving the paper and just started tearing at it as if it were a present from her first ever Christmas. When she pulled out the gift she gasped. Her mouth hung open at the sheer sight of what she held. It was a white kimono accented with red and pink rose petals, and sky blue trim, on which her name was customarily stitched in yellow thread.   
  
"So what do you think? I hope I didn't get any colors you don't like." Tenchi said quickly, unsure of Sasami's response.   
  
"Oh no, I love it! These are my favorite colors, and I love the rose petals! How did you get my name on here?" Sasami said so quickly and with so much enthusiasm that it made Tenchi jump with pleasant surprise.   
  
"Well I got a friend of mine in Tokyo to do it for me before I came back for spring break." Tenchi said rubbing the back of his head at the sheer joy being displayed by the young princess.   
  
"You act as though you've never received a kimono before. Surely you had closets full of them back on Jurai?" Tenchi asked Sasami, who began jumping up and down.   
  
"Yes I have owned many kimonos. I've actually started collecting them. I love them so much! And the first gift you gave me was a kimono, and it has all of my favorite colors on it too. Thank you Tenchi." Sasami said with a tear beginning to welt up in her eye. She ran up and hugged Tenchi so hard she was beginning to cut off circulation to his brain.   
  
"You're. welc.ome.. Sasa.mi" Tenchi choked out with a strained voice. She let go of Tenchi abruptly and just looked at him with the most beautiful, kind, gentle smile he had ever seen. Sasami had never looked more innocent than she did then. Her soul seemed to be smiling at him through Sasami, truly coming out for the first time.   
  
"You want to try it on?" Tenchi asked, rubbing his head and pointing to the shrine."   
  
"Yeah! Sure I do! I'll be back in a minute." Sasami said running to the shrine and closing the door with a loud snap. As she took off articles of her clothing, folded them neatly and put them on a chair in the corner. When she was undressed she slipped on the kimono. It was slightly too big and she had to do some adjusting to the belt. She looked at herself in a mirror in the back of the room. She loved the way the white made her hair and eyes look especially vibrant. When she emerged from the shrine, she walked out with the grace of a queen of Jurai. As she walked, she seemed to be floating across the walkway, as though the ground was toxic. She glided to an applauding Tenchi and gave a deep courtesy. Only problem was that she was standing on her kimono. So when she started to lean forward, she lost her balance and teetered towards the stairs. Tenchi ran up and caught her just in time to save her from a very painful roll down the steps back to the house. While she found herself in Tenchi's arms, she felt a kind of warmth. And she began to feel lighthearted, as though she had ascended into a state of unconscious bliss. She quickly snapped out of it when her pink eyes met Tenchi's smile.   
  
"Are you ok Sasami?" Tenchi asked, noticing a slight blush come across her face.   
  
"I'm ok Tenchi." She said, feeling somewhat awkward. She could feel her cheeks and ears starting to get hot.   
  
"Why does my face feel so warm?" Sasami worriedly asked herself, thinking she was coming down with something for she was unaccustomed to blushing, and the strange withdrawn feeling that came with it.   
  
"Let's get back to the house. It's getting late." Tenchi said looking at the sky, which was beginning to turn a deep red.   
  
"Wait a second; I have to get my other clothes." Sasami said, ducking back into the shrine. When she came out with her clothes, Tenchi took them for her and they walked down the stairs back to the house. They heard a dull roar behind them. Steadily it grew louder until Tenchi and Sasami turned to see what was making the tumultuous noise. Soon they saw Yagami zoom overhead. Kiyone was back from her assignment on Saturn tracking down a ring of intergalactic smugglers.   
  
"I should have known she would be here. There's no way Kiyone was going to miss your birthday, not even to bust up an elite smuggling ring." Tenchi said, watching the ship land next to the house.   
  
"Let's hurry so we can say hi to her before she gets to the house. It'll probably be harder to do with everyone else trying to welcome her back at the same time. "Sasami said pulling Tenchi down the stairs at an alarming speed. On several occasions Tenchi almost went careening down the stairs due to lost footing. As they got to the house, they saw Kiyone getting ready to knock on the door.   
  
"Hey Kiyone!" Sasami yelled from 20 feet away. Kiyone turned around, startled at first, but when she saw Sasami's long, blue, ponytails streaming behind the person who had addressed her, she smiled warmly. Sasami arrived in front of her. She panted from being out of breath, jogging over to Kiyone giving her a great big hug. Kiyone returned the affection with her own embrace and rubbing Sasami's hair.   
  
"That's the fastest I've ever seen anyone get down those stairs since Mihoshi thought she saw a giant man-eating bug in the woods." Kiyone said, chuckling to herself. Tenchi staggered over, falling face first into the ground.   
  
"Is he ok?" Kiyone said, trying desperately to hold back a laugh.   
  
"He's just out of shape," Sasami said, playfully waving her finger, and then reaching down to pull his cheek. He responded with a dull *ungh*   
  
"That's a beautiful kimono Sasami." Kiyone gasped while taking the sleeve of Sasami's new kimono.   
  
"Thank you! Tenchi gave it to me." She said, doing a small spin to showcase the kimono's full effect.   
  
"I have no idea how he did it. He got my favorite kind of gift, and all my favorite colors. I wonder if he did any asking around.the girl who Tenchi falls in love with would be very lucky indeed." Sasami said rubbing Tenchi's hair, as he drudgingly got up, and spit out a mouthful of grass. She giggled as he brushed the dirt off his clothes.   
  
"Come with me to the ship. My gift for you is inside." Kiyone said, ushering the quite literally bouncing Sasami, no longer fazed by her previous sprint. She gleefully pulled Tenchi along as he drug his feet to the ship, clutching his head in an apparent ear-splitting headache. She punched in a few buttons on a small keypad on the side of the ship's main airlock.   
  
"4...42...2...9T...K...no that's not right. why do these stupid buttons have to be so ridiculously small?" Kiyone mumbled to herself, as she had to restart several times due to her accidentally pushing multiple keys at the same time. After about six or seven failed attempts The door finally opened with an obedient (Whoosh) they stepped into the ship to see piles upon piles of crates labeled "Useless Souvenirs" strewn from one end of the ship to the other. After a bit of stepping around and a few minor scrapes from the corners of the boxes, Kiyone arrived at the door leading to the cockpit.   
  
"Wait here, I have to get your gift from the cockpit. Oh and sorry about the mess, every time we get an assignment on a different planet, Mihoshi insists on getting something to remind her of it to take back home. It wouldn't make a difference if she got 1 or 2 things, but she has a tendency to go a bit overboard. I keep on telling her she's filling up the ship beyond capacity with this junk, but she won't let me get rid of it." Kiyone said disappearing behind a stack of crates labeled Jupiter Serial Vandal Assg.   
  
"It must hold some emotional value to her." Sasami replied, looking at a picture of Kiyone and Mihoshi.   
  
"I guess so." Kiyone sighed, bemused at some of the crated artifacts. She looked at Sasami through a crack in the boxes, and saw the absolutely wondrous _expression on her face at the junk that surrounded her. She finally found the item she was looking for. She concealed it by putting it behind her back, and walked over to Sasami.   
  
"Alright Sasami, close your eyes and hold out your hand," Kiyone said to the beaming princess. She closed her eyes at least most of the way, and held out her hand expectantly. She felt something cool like metal, and light like a hand full of coins.   
  
"Okay you can open your eyes now." Kiyone said smiling down at her. She slowly opened her eyes, building the suspense of finding out what Kiyone had given her. When she had finally fully opened her eyes she was delighted to find a gold locket shaped like a heart, crested with carbonate compound crystals. The locket was strung on a silver chain, which was twisted to look like a braid. When Sasami opened the locket a beautiful song started to resonate from within it. Her eyes were so wide open with excitement it looked as though she had no eyelids anymore.   
  
"I can see you like it." Kiyone laughed, looking at the expression on Sasami's face.   
  
"I got it as a gift from Saturn. The planetary council insisted upon giving it to me as a token of appreciation. They said it once belonged to the mother of their emperor, or ghafba. They even let me engrave your name on it in saturnic runes." Kiyone said, flipping the locket over revealing the beautiful inscription. A tear escaped Sasami's eye as she looked at it. Kiyone knelt down and gently wiped the tear from her cheek.   
  
"What do you say to taking a picture for that locket of yours?" Kiyone whispered to Sasami she gave a gleeful nod that made her ponytails bounce. Kiyone collected a quick-Developing camera, Sasami, and Tenchi, and went outside. Tenchi stood on the dock, and Sasami stood right in front of him. Kiyone stood about ten feet back and held the camera level to the horizon. Tenchi knelt down on his knees to try and be about Sasami's height. He put his arm around Sasami's shoulder drawing her a bit closer so she'd fit into the picture. She began to feel that same pleasant feeling of strange warmth overcome her as she did when Tenchi caught her on the stairs. Sasami moved closer to Tenchi, her head against his chest, in an almost bracing way.  
  
Her awareness seemed to fade away. She saw Kiyone's mouth move, but didn't hear much of anything. The twittering birds seemed to fall silent. Then she looked up at Tenchi and saw his gentle smile. She felt so wonderful, comfortable and safe in Tenchi's arms. He eventually looked back at the camera, but Sasami's eyes stayed fixated upon Tenchi for a few seconds. Then she turned to face the camera and saw a brilliant flash. Upon seeing the flash from the camera, Sasami was released from the entrancement that had befallen her. Suddenly remembering what exactly was going on; she quickly stood upright, breaking from Tenchi's grip. She briskly walked over to Kiyone, who was fanning the picture to help it develop faster.  
  
Tenchi, Sasami, and Kiyone got back to the house and were showered with birthday greetings and confetti. Whistles blew, noisemakers crackled, and poppers popped. A group of people consisting of Ayeka, Ryoko, Katsuhito, Noboyuki, and Kiyone hoisted Sasami up into the air, and proceeded to carry her to the dining room. Tenchi fell back and followed, feeling that his presence in the situation could only make for interesting situations involving Ryoko. She and Ayeka decided to change their regular attire for the occasion. Ayeka had gotten a ceremonial kimono shipped from Misaki who had made it herself. It was a bit too long and a bit too wide. She kept on insisting that Ayeka was turning into a stick and needed to eat more, and had assumed that she would have taken note.  
  
"If you don't nourish yourself, your figure will never fully develop." She remembered her saying at one point. It was silver with golden trims. Beautiful crown jewels hung from the front of it, and rubies and diamonds were embroidered along the hymns.  
  
"Leave it to Misaki to overdo things." Tenchi chucked to himself. This alone wouldn't bother him, but Ryoko on the other hand had decided to wear her space pirate uniform which slightly "glorified" her features, which made Tenchi doubt his father's ability to suppress his inner hentai. But alas, Noboyuki had tried to, and failed, resisting "touching" Ryoko. By the time his hand was 2 feet away from the side of her thigh; Ryoko had turned around and was charging a particle beam in his face, while still carrying Sasami in one hand.  
  
"If you want to live to see another Doujinshi manga you'll think twice before trying that again you dirty old man." Ryoko said calmly, yet frighteningly stern. Her eyes seemed to glow manically at the little man backing away from her. Tenchi hung his head in shame in his father's perverted belligerence, once again sorry to be right about his father's behavior. They all put Sasami in the chair at the head of the dining room table. Before her sat a great feast; Honey-baked ham, turkey, lobsters, corn, and many other deliciously prepared foods. She sat down and marveled at the amount of food before her eyes, and the wine glass set next to her half full. To her surprise, it smelled like sparkling cider. Everyone sat down except for Ryoko, who remained standing holding her glass in the air.  
  
"Here's a birthday toast to Sasami Jurrai; the little girl who has warmed our hearts with her kindness, her smile, and her cooking. To the sweetest person any of us have been blessed to meet. Happy 11th birthday Sasami." Ryoko said, holding her glass even higher in the air. Everyone stood with their glasses held like Ryoko's and said,  
  
"Happy 11th birthday." Then they all sat down and ate.  
  
"That was beautiful Ryoko." Ayeka said, looking pleasantly surprised with the space pirate who, until 2 minutes ago, she thought to have less depth than a puddle of water, and about as much charisma as an ape.  
  
"That's a lot coming from someone like you. Thanks Ayeka." Ryoko said, giving Ayeka a short glance before diving into a plate of corn-on-the-cob.  
  
This concludes the first portion of my story, Sasami's Heartache. The second piece is being written, but there is much more to go. This story was brought to you by Jamie Fujikata, Master of words. Stay tuned for our next episode, when Tenchi lets Sasami try swordsman training, Washu stumbles onto the picture in Sasami's locket rousing minute suspicions of the relationship between Sasami and Tenchi, and things will explode. Believe me, things will explode. ^_^;;  
  
The characters in this story do not belong to me. I do not, and will not use creations of AIC/ Pioneer for reasons of profit. 


	2. The Next Day

Note: the names were changed for the purposes of legality for submission. A thing at my University thought the publicity would help cause these are the names I'm using when I adapt this to a book. Still have work to go, and I still have to write the rest ^_^;; I'm sorry for making you all wait so long for my installments, school keeps me busy. Some are still the same though. They'll change back eventually. The char names are as follows Cast explanations Kyoko Miasaki Ayeka  
  
Akina Miasaki Sasami  
  
Derick Arison: Tenchi  
  
Haley Black: Ryoko  
  
Kane Miasaki: Yosho This is the second installment of my fan fiction. Let it be said that I still do not hold any rights to the characters in this story. I will not exploit these characters for profit, or other personal gain. Thank you Pioneer/ AIC for making such a kick-ass show for me to write about! Now back to our story.  
  
Akina awoke the next morning to the sounds of birds chirping in the windows and the smell of roses. She turned around to gaze again upon the roses Derick gave to her as a present the night before. The loamy sky was tinged with a dim shade of dark blue. The alarm clock next to her bed blazed 5:30AM in bold blue numbers. Memories of when Washu gave her the alarm clock had crept back into her mind.  
  
"It does everything but the dishes!" she remembered Washu exclaim, as it began to vacuum the living room floor. Kyoko was peacefully sleeping next to her, lost in dreams of Derick no doubt... She slowly, quietly, rose from her bed, and walked to the bathroom. She took a short shower, letting the warm water embrace her, allowing her to relax for the day ahead. All of a sudden, a memory popped up in her head. Derick was carrying her up the stairs. The party was over and it was time for bed. She remembered feeling safe... comfortable... at peace. He gently put her down in the bed, gently stroked her head, and... he kissed her on the forehead.  
  
A heat began to emit from the spot on her forehead, and touched her hand to it. Suddenly, the tranquility of Akina's reminiscence was interrupted by a loud noise in the kitchen. She quickly wrapped up in a tartan robe and set off downstairs, still soaking wet, to see what the cause of the noise was. She hurried down the stairs, not exactly sure what she was looking for, and began to look for what had abruptly ended her shower. She had a hard time seeing, since it was only 5:30, and the interior of the house was the same color as the sullen sky. She slowly walked through the house, trying not to disturb Kiyone or Mihoshi, who were both sleeping on the couch.  
  
Mihoshi had made a surprise entrance the previous night, with Akina's wonderful, 7 layered, triple fudge cake, with Reese's cups buried in the soft, spongy interior. It tasted wonderful, but she made the terrible mistake of putting a figurine of Akina holding a large carrot atop the chocolate masterpiece. Ryo-ohki knocked down the top 3 layers of the cake, which fell on Kyoko and Haley. Kyoko was ready to kill for having her ceremonial kimono, fresh from Jurrai, ruined by a cabbit that develops an obsessive-compulsive disorder whenever it sees a carrot. Kiyone would have been successful in escaping from the embarrassing fiasco, had it not been for the fact that Mihoshi had slammed Yukinojou into Yagami when she landed. They were both stuck there for at least a week until Washu could get around to fixing their ships. Once again her peaceful memories were interrupted by a noise coming from somewhere. Then she heard two hushed voices coming from the kitchen.  
  
"Watch what you're doing you idiot, do you want to wake up everyone in the house!?" the first voice hissed impatiently.  
  
"Well excuse me... I'm tired, I just woke up, and I can't see a thing," the second voice snapped back. Akina was trying to edge her way into the kitchen without making a sound. She was thankful for the fact that the two people in the kitchen were so wrapped up in their profuse argument that they couldn't hear the minute squeaks the floor made as she walked. Akina was starting to worry. There were strangers in the house and she was the only one awake. Nobody could help her should something happen to her because everyone was asleep. A voice in her head kept trying to make her stop moving, "Akina, stop, you don't know what you're doing. What if they decide to do something to you? No one is around to help you. Everyone's asleep now. Even if you were to go in there, what can you do?" the voice echoed. Akina momentarily paused, for she hadn't thought of this. What was she going to do? She would walk in, see them and then what? She looked franticly around for something, anything, but it was too dark, she couldn't see anything but dark silhouettes of furniture, tinted a dark shade of early morning blue.  
  
She spotted, by chance, Derick's bokken sitting next to the doorway to the kitchen. She gingerly picked it up and tried to hold it straight. It was slightly heavier then she had imagined it would be, but no matter. She gripped the handle tightly, and slowly, silently, moved into the kitchen. She tiptoed over to the silhouettes and poised herself to strike both intruders on the head.  
  
"1...2...3!" she counted to herself before bringing the wooden sword down on one head then the other. They both fell, knocked out cold, into a disheveled pile in the middle of the kitchen floor. Akina ran over to the light switch and turned it on to identify the people she had just knocked out, only to find Kyoko and Haley with substantially large lumps on their heads. After much yelling and cursing, Haley sat calmly at the dining room table. Akina had given her an ice pack to put on her head, but it kept falling of because she was too lazy to hold it up. Kyoko lay against the stove, rubbing her head; still dazed from the blow she received. She dizzily swayed back and forth, trying to refocus her eyes.  
  
"And explain to me again Why you found it necessary to klong us in the heads with Derick's sword..." Haley said impatiently, pushing the ice pack back in the top of her head.  
  
"I heard noises in the kitchen and I came down to see what it was. I thought you were robbers or something!" Akina said in her defense.  
  
"Akina, we're in a house up in a mountain in the middle of Okinawa... who would want to go through the trouble..."Kyoko said, her hand clutching her head.  
  
"What were you two doing down here this early anyway?" Akina asked, getting another ice pack from the freezer, and then coaxing Kyoko to the table with Haley.  
  
"If you really want to know... We were going to cook breakfast for Derick, wanted to give those new cookbooks of yours a test drive." Haley said, carelessly flipping through International Breakfast Dishes.  
  
"Well why were the lights off? You can't cook in the dark." Akina said, pulling out utensils to cook with. "Derick and Kane go out for swordsmanship training around this time. We wanted to prepare something exquisite and elaborate for Derick. So Haley and I decided to start really early in the event that we take a bit longer then expected." Kyoko said, nonchalantly eyeing Haley, who, to her non- surprising discovery, was doing the same.  
  
"We chose to operate under the cover of darkness in the event that Derick decided to come down early." Kyoko said, regaining her posture to the best of her ability.  
  
"Besides, I can see perfectly in the dark." Haley said, trying to stand up. The loamy blue sky was beginning to turn an off turquoise as the sun continued its progression climbing the horizon. Akina resumed collecting pots and pans with which she planned to finish the project Kyoko and Haley had taken upon themselves to start.  
  
"You guys still want to cook? I could use the help. Or I could just let you do it," Akina said, looking concernedly at Kyoko and Haley, apparently trying to regain their bearings.  
  
"Maybe tomorrow Akina. My head hurts too much to read right now. I'll just go back up to bed. Would you would be so kind as to summon me when breakfast is prepared?" Kyoko asked, clenching her eyes tightly shut to keep light from worsening her headache as she slowly trudged up the stairs.  
  
"Sure Kyoko. Well what about you Haley? Do you want to cook, or go back to sleep?" she asked Haley, who had apparently shaken of the blow to the head as if it were nothing at all.  
  
"Well of course I want to make breakfast! Now I can make breakfast for Derick and that stupid attention hog Kyoko won't be able to steal any of the credit from me!" Haley exclaimed, finding a recipe for Belgium waffles.  
  
"Well I'll leave you alone then." Akina said, picking up Derick's bokken, and walking out to the living room, closing the door to the kitchen behind her. Without the bright fluorescent light in the kitchen, everything seemed a lot darker then she remembered. She walked back up the stairs and resumed taking her shower. When she emerged, Derick was downstairs sitting on the bottom step. She put on her birthday kimono, walked down to him, and gently tapped him on the shoulder.  
  
"Huh? Oh, good morning Akina. Did you sleep well?" Derick asked the small princess towering over him on the step above where he was sitting.  
  
"Just fine. Thanks for asking. How about you? You ready for Kane's morning training?" She asked Derick, sitting down next to him, reestablishing their natural height difference.  
  
Excuse my ridiculously long paragraph, but I'm working on the bug causing the problem_________________________________________________________ "As ready as I can be this early in the morning." Derick said smiling at Akina. Then they heard a "clang" in the kitchen.  
  
"Who's in there?" Derick asked Akina.  
  
"Just Haley." Akina replied  
  
"Haley?" Derick asked bemusedly.  
  
"She decided to make breakfast this morning." Akina said, looking back on the incident that had occurred a few minutes before.  
  
"But Haley doesn't typically get up until late morning. The earliest I've ever seen her get up before is 12:00 and it's only 5:56. Getting up early enough to beat you to the kitchen to make breakfast sounds like something Kyoko would do." Derick said, slightly confused.  
  
"Kyoko was in on the project, but..." Akina said, slightly hesitantly.  
  
"But what happened?" Derick asked. Akina then told him the entire story about her being in the shower then hearing something in the kitchen, and how she took his bokken and knocked them out, at which point Derick looked taken aback. Then she explained how Kyoko went back to bed, and Haley continued their cooking project.  
  
"Is Kyoko ok?" Derick asked, looking very concerned.  
  
"She's fine. She just went upstairs to lie down." Akina said, slightly upset to bring up the subject of smacking her sister in the back of the head with a wooden sword. Derick took a pause and looked at Akina for a moment. Thinking there was something wrong with her appearance she started to look upon herself as well.  
  
"Your hair," Derick started.  
  
"Would look nice long. I mean your ponytails are cute too, but long hair suits you better." Derick said, lightheartedly running a hand through her damp hair. Akina gave a meek giggle and began to blush again, faint although it was, it was noticeable to Derick who upon seeing it, chuckled. This made Akina blush even more clearly. She felt heat rushing to her ears and her face. She concerned herself with in naught, for she recognized the feeling by now as blushing and halfway accepted it. She still felt strange blushing in front of Derick so regularly as she had been. What had been the cause of it all? She tossed this around in her head for a little while before dismissing it and talking to Derick again, noticing his nervousness behind such a long pause in the conversation.  
  
"You really think it looks nice long? I talked to Kiyone about it once and she said it was probably more work then I'd be interested in doing to keep it in good condition, that's assuming I perm it..." Akina said, slightly cutting herself short.  
  
"Wait here Derick." She said, running up the stairs. Derick sat at the bottom of the stairs, slightly confused, glancing nervously at the clock in the living room. It read 5:59. Derick had to be at the shrine in a half an hour. Akina quickly dried her hair the rest of the way, and brushed it down, making it presentable. It was no longer clumped up and knotted, but long and somewhat smooth. It had been a last minute attempt so she didn't expect it to look perfect, but it gave her a general idea of what Derick was talking about. She had some trouble brushing it because it reached down to her legs when at full length.  
  
She went back to the stairs to continue talking to Derick, but he was gone. He must have departed for the shrine to meet Kane for morning training. She shrugged it off and sat on the stairs and thought. Akina was actually quite bored at the moment. She was always busy with cooking breakfast at this hour. Akina found the conversation between her and Derick quite enjoyable. She didn't get to see him that early usually. It was fun talking to him uninterrupted with Kyoko and Haley's bickering, or Washu's tangents with her new inventions and such, or Kiyone yelling at Mihoshi for some reason or another, she loved it. She sat happily on the stairs, thinking and fiddling with her hair, when she was struck by a horrible panic. She spotted Derick's bokken lying discarded on the floor. She picked it up and hastily and bolted through the door so she may catch him and give it to him.  
  
She ran as fast as she could up the stairs. It had been a great deal more difficult trying to run up the stairs as fast as she had when she was sprinting down them the previous day. She saw Derick almost at the top of the staircase headed into the shrine.  
  
"Derick, you forgot your sword!" Akina shouted to him, but he didn't hear her. She continued to run up the stairs as fast as she could, but the endeavor became a real strain on her legs. With each step her feet hammered down on the steps, her legs felt like they would just melt into nothing. She finally reached the top of the stairs, panting heavily for a moment or two, then entered the shrine after Derick.  
  
" You left this in the house." Akina said, half out of breath, holding out Derick's sword. Derick's face froze with a look of shock. He couldn't believe that he would leave his bokken back at the house before coming up to the shrine, or that Akina to come sprinting up to give it to him.  
  
"Thank you Akina. I'm sorry you had to go through the trouble..."  
  
"It was no trouble at all." Akina said, regaining her posture.  
  
"I thank you for giving Derick his bokken Akina. Truth be told, I was hoping for him to forget it. For a truly skilled warrior can defend himself effectively in combat with the things around him in his environment." Katsuhito said eyeing a slightly quivering Derick.  
  
"I do apologize for your having to run up here, but maybe you'd like to stay here and observe Derick this morning. It is my understanding that Haley has decided to make breakfast this morning and you are currently free to do as you please. I'm not obligating you to do so, but you are more then welcome to join us if you wish to." Akina thought about the possibility of seeing Derick train with Kane. She had always wanted to do so, but never had the time to do so.  
  
"I'd love to watch!" Akina said excitedly. They all walked out to the forest, Derick feeling especially sullen.  
  
"It's one thing to be bad by myself, but with an audience... *sigh* oh well...Maybe I'll do well today..." Derick thought to himself, rubbing his head in pretense to the several lumps that would be there by that afternoon in all probability. They all walked until they reached a small clearing in the thicket of ancient trees stretching down the mountain. The sky was a brighter shade of blue, going from dark blue to opaque blue. It was still fairly early, and nobody could really see a thing. It reminded Akina of when she was in the living room, dark with silhouettes everywhere. Only instead of furniture it was large trees.  
  
"Ok Derick, I'll give you 10 seconds to prepare yourself. After which, I shall commence my attack. Make use of whatever you can find and open your senses. Become aware of all that occurs around you." He said, pulling his bokken out of his hikama.  
  
"10...9...8...7...6...5...4...3..2..1..." then he was gone. He had rushed into the cover of the lumbering trees. The sounds of snapping twigs and the rustling leaves were all around them. Derick glanced back and forth desperately looking for something to arm himself with to defend himself from his grandfather. He picked up a small assortment of rocks and started to look around.  
  
"Focus Derick, do not depend so much on your eyes. Use your other senses." Katsuhito yelled from atop a tall tree. Suddenly, he leapt at Derick, bokken raised, and coming straight at Derick. Derick quickly picked up one of the stones and launched it at his face as hard as he could. Katsuhito knocked it back with the bokken and it smashed Derick on the top of the head. He walked around dazed for a moment or two then turned around, looked at Akina.  
  
"This must be how Kyoko and Haley must have felt... its one thing for me, I get smacked in the head several times a say with that thing. But Kyoko..." he said, trying hard to smile, and keep his balance. Akina giggled at his words.  
  
A few hours went by, and Derick was dealt several more blows; on his arms, on his legs, and a few more to the head. Eventually, he was able to get Katsuhito in the gut on one of his assaults from behind a bush with a medium sized rock. By the time they had finished, the sky was bright blue, and the birds were singing in full volume. The light from the sun parted through the trees in different sizes beams cascading interesting and intricate shadows of leaves across the forest floor. As they began their ascent out of the forest, Katsuhito decided to stay back and meditate for a little while. Akina tried to engage in conversation with Derick. The sounds of the creatures carrying out their daily routines was calming enough, but she had quite enjoyed the conversation she and Derick had shared earlier that morning, and now seemed like the perfect time for a second attempt to recreate such a connection.  
  
"I'm sorry you had to run all the way up here for nothing Akina." Derick said while he rubbed two substantially large lumps on his head. Akina was slightly jumped when he talked because she was so busy mulling what to talk about around in her head.  
  
"Oh it was nothing Derick, I don't mind." She said smiling at him. More awkward silence passed, only accompanied by the sound of the debris of the forest crunching and shifting between their feet. She fumbled for words. She wanted to talk but she knew not of what. Miscellaneous animals foraged through the surrounding bushes, occasionally peeking through to see the odd creatures venturing through their domain. She was so embarrassed. She wanted to talk but all that came out, when anything came out at all, were small "Uhs'" and "Ums'" she was beside herself with her silence.  
  
"I wonder what Haley is cooking..." Derick said suddenly. Akina, once again startled by the random breaking of silence, jumped with a startled surprise.  
  
"I don't know... She seemed happy to be making it though." She too started to wonder what surprise Haley had in store for them in the kitchen.  
  
"I'm sure it will be good though." Akina beamed. The silence ended up following the two all the way back to the house, until the gentle, but hypnotically alluring smell of Cinnamon and butter drifted through the sealed door. Akina wasn't usually hungry around that time. She had always eaten a separate breakfast that she prepared for herself shortly before serving breakfast to the others. Her hunger compounded with the tantalizing smell of Haley's breakfast almost made the experience too much to bear. Derick opened the door and ushered Akina in. The house was no longer dark and silent, but bright and busy. The unearthly aroma was only greatly amplified once they stepped into the house. Akina felt strange though. The usual orchestra of sounds that emitted from the kitchen were in perfect synch. Even though she wasn't there. Stranger yet, was the odd peaceful quiet. Kyoko and Haley weren't arguing. Kyoko was, however, standing silently watching Haley spitefully through a crack in the door. Mihoshi sat propped up against the arm of the couch in a pair of Hello Kitty Pajamas watching Saturday morning cartoons. Her usually neatly tied back; golden brown hair now lay loosely and haphazardly down her back and along her shoulders as she watched Garfield kick Odie off the dining room table for the ump-teenth time. She was totally absorbed. She did show a bit of pity for the simple, off-yellow dog when he fell, until he helicoptered off the screen using his long ears.  
  
"Good morning lord Derick. How was the morning training with Kane? Oh my, you're hurt! Let me wrap that for you. You took Akina with you? That was sweet." As Akina watched her sister bombard the hapless Derick with her pestilence, a feeling of tension knotted up in the pit of her stomach. Almost the same way as when one is jealous or sad, but perhaps it was only the hunger gnawing away at her. The fact still remained that her time with Derick was spent, and gone. 


End file.
